Thursday, February 09, 2012

Heresy: My warped, crazy, wrong version of Agile

I increasingly feel that the way I interpret Agile, the practices and the processes, if different to the rest of the world. Perhaps this is just self doubt, perhaps because I started doing Agile-like-things before reading about XP or Scrum, perhaps this is because my version has always been more informed by Lean, perhaps this is because I have never achieved Certified Scrum anything status, perhaps because I’ve never worked for ThoughtWorks, perhaps because I hold and MBA (and thus have an over inflated opinion of myself) or perhaps I’m just wrong.

Yet clients of mine report some success (I even have a couple of case studies). Perhaps this was despite me rather than because of me. In the past I’ve described two of my own Agile systems - Blue-White-Red and Xanpan, these are my attempts to describe how I see the development working without being constrained by other systems (sometimes I think of own-brand-cola methods.)

Here is where I feel I differ from the Agile mainstream, or perhaps, just Scrum:

I don’t it is wrong to carry work from one sprint/iteration to the next

I don’t believe in Scrum Masters; where Scrum Masters exists I think they are a kind-of Project Manager; and I believe Scrum Master Certification is a con (but I would, wouldn’t I?) that is potentially damaging the industry and Agile

I believe Agile is a dirty word in some circles and has been used and abused; but I don’t believe there is an alternative (at least not right now)

I don’t believe the Dreyfus model of learning is the right model for Agile, I think it makes work for consultants and creates Learned Dependency, I prefer the Constructivism model

Its not all bad, there are some things I believe:

I believe Agile means “Better”

I believe the Agile Manifesto is a historic document like the US Constitution, and like the constitution we can read all sorts of meaning into it, depending on who you are you read different things. But there is no Supreme Court to arbitrate on whats-what. So Agile is “what I say it is” - or maybe, like “art is what artists do”, “Agile is what Agile advocates say it is”

I believe Agile is, and always has been about flow, some people might not get it, and the some in the Kanban crowd might have come to it late but its always been there

I believe in breaking User Stories down - I mean, I’d love it if teams didn’t have to break them down and I aim to take them there one day, but its a long journey

I believe the Product Owner role is far more important than the Scrum Master

I believe “Project” is an accountancy term that has wrongly become attached to development work

I believe speaking out against Scrum is bad for the reputation and the Scrum Mafia will come after you in a dark alley

Gee, this starts to sound like Allan’s manifesto! Anyone want to sign? :)- OK, the last point was a bit of a joke :)

I’ve linked to some blogs and such where I have previously discussed these items, and I might expand on some in future. Many of the issues raised here are complex and I really don’t have the time to explain them right now, so next time you see me ask me to discuss.